Image copyrightWales News ServiceImage caption
Simon Lewis was in a car with his pregnant wife and daughter

A speeding driver who caused a head-on crash which killed a father and his baby son has been jailed for 12 years.

Simon Lewis, 33, died when Kyle Kennedy's car crashed in the Tremorfa area of the city on New Year's Eve.

His son was delivered prematurely three days after the crash at the University Hospital of Wales but died later the same day.

Kennedy, 29, from Rumney, was convicted of causing their deaths by dangerous driving at Cardiff Crown Court.

Mr Lewis's pregnant wife Amanda and three-year-old daughter were also in the car when Kennedy, who was banned from driving at the time, hit their vehicle at 70mph on a 40mph road.

The court heard he tried to overtake a van but clipped it and hit Mr Lewis's silver Daihatsu.

Image copyrightSouth Wales Police

During the trial, Matthew Cobbe, prosecuting, said: "This was absolutely dangerous driving, his excessive speed and the dangerous overtaking manoeuvre that he performed by pulling out without any view gave Simon Lewis no chance of taking any avoiding action."

In a statement to the court after Kennedy was found guilty, Mrs Lewis said: "I had to make the hardest decision to have the baby born by emergence Caesarean section and to not have my husband and best friend beside me was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

"Simon will never get to watch her daughter grow up and see her first day of school or see her get married."

Jailing Kennedy for 12 years, judge Paul Thomas QC told him: "This was a young family with the excitement of a new baby due - that family unit was destroyed by your actions.

"You believe you can drive a car whenever and however you like without any regard to other road users.

"There's no doubt in my mind that you regard yourself as someone for who the rules do not apply."

In a statement released after sentencing, Mr Lewis's family said: "We as a family are devastated by what happened on December 31 and the hole left in our lives will never be filled.

"But now that the ordeal is over, we can now start to try to rebuild our lives."